Sarah's rib-cracking ride

SANDSTORMS, scorpions, a broken rib, nearly drowning and getting lost alone in the Gobi desert didn't stop adventurous Sarah Poynter on her mission to raise thousands of pounds for the Mongolian Red Cross.

SANDSTORMS, scorpions, a broken rib, nearly drowning and getting lost alone in the Gobi desert didn't stop adventurous Sarah Poynter on her mission to raise thousands of pounds for the Mongolian Red Cross.

The 25-year-old trainee teacher has just returned from a 1,400-mile solo bike ride through the central Asian country, which is one of the most barren places in the world.

It took her eight weeks to cycle from the Chinese border in the south to the Russian border in the north, even if the journey didn't go quite to plan.

Sarah, from High Lane, Disley, said: "I broke a rib on one of the first days.

"I fell off but didn't get my feet out of those stupid pedal clips quick enough. It was a recurrence of an injury I suffered when I was hit by a car while cycling in London last year. I'm a bit of a target.

"There were lots of difficult moments on the trip. I was cycling into the wind most of the time and it whips up the sand. Sometimes it felt like I was being sandblasted and I had to get off and push, covering only about 10 miles some days.

"The journey was meant to be 2,000 miles, but I had to change my route because of floods in the north and then hitched a lift after getting very lost in the Gobi desert.

"I was worried about running out of water. I found a scorpion in my tent one day and after getting lost again I managed to hitch out of the sand and on to a road.

"I'm not sure how far I travelled because someone stole the computer from my bike, which was surprising because the Mongolian people were so helpful, kind and curious.

"I also nearly drowned when I tried to cross a river by jeep after a huge storm, but it was all worth it."

Mongolia, which covers 1.5 million square kilometers and has a population of less than three million, is often rocked by natural disasters. Sarah estimates her trip, along with a charity screening of Back to the Future at Marple cinema, will raise about £3,000.

The money will go towards helping a community around an illegal mining project in the Bayankhongor Province.

Sarah said: "Eighty per cent of the country's livestock was wiped out in natural disasters in 2001 and 2002, so in the winter now to make money the people are forced to mine gold illegally.